Attitudes towards emotional expression mediate the relationship between childhood invalidation and adult eating concern

Previous research has suggested that invalidating childhood environments are positively related to the symptoms of eating disorders. However, it is unclear how childhood environments might impact upon the development of eating disorder symptoms. This study examined the relationship between parental invalidation and eating disorder-related attitudes in a nonclinical sample and tested the mediating effect of attitudes towards emotional expression. Two hundred women, with a mean age of 21 years, completed measures of invalidating childhood environments, attitudes towards emotional expression, and eating pathology. Eating concerns were positively associated with recollections of an invalidating parental environment. The belief that the expression of emotions is a sign of weakness fully mediated the relationship between childhood maternal invalidation and adult eating concern. Following replication and extension to a clinical sample, these results suggest that targeting the individual's attitude towards emotional expression might reduce eating attitudes among women who have experienced an invalidating childhood environment

Global invasion history of the agricultural pest butterfly revealed with genomics and citizen science.

The small cabbage white butterfly, , is a major agricultural pest of cruciferous crops and has been introduced to every continent except South America and Antarctica as a result of human activities. In an effort to reconstruct the near-global invasion history of , we developed a citizen science project, the "Pieris Project," and successfully amassed thousands of specimens from 32 countries worldwide. We then generated and analyzed nuclear (double-digest restriction site-associated DNA fragment procedure [ddRAD]) and mitochondrial DNA sequence data for these samples to reconstruct and compare different global invasion history scenarios. Our results bolster historical accounts of the global spread and timing of introductions. We provide molecular evidence supporting the hypothesis that the ongoing divergence of the European and Asian subspecies of (∼1,200 y B.P.) coincides with the diversification of brassicaceous crops and the development of human trade routes such as the Silk Route (Silk Road). The further spread of over the last ∼160 y was facilitated by human movement and trade, resulting in an almost linear series of at least 4 founding events, with each introduced population going through a severe bottleneck and serving as the source for the next introduction. Management efforts of this agricultural pest may need to consider the current existence of multiple genetically distinct populations. Finally, the international success of the Pieris Project demonstrates the power of the public to aid scientists in collections-based research addressing important questions in invasion biology, and in ecology and evolutionary biology more broadly

Food Addiction in a Spanish Sample of Eating Disorders: DSM‐5 Diagnostic Subtype Differentiation and Validation Data

Although the concept of ‘food addiction’ (FA) has raised growing interest because of evidence for similarities between substance dependence and excessive food intake, there is a lack of studies that explore this construct among the wide spectrum of eating disorders (EDs). Besides providing validation scores of a Spanish version of the Yale FA Scale (YFAS‐S), this study examined the prevalence of ‘FA’ among ED subtypes compared with healthy‐eating controls (HCs) and the association between ‘FA’ scores, eating symptomatology and general psychopathology. A sample of 125 adult women with ED, diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 criteria, and 82 healthy‐eating women participated in the study. All participants were assessed with the YFAS‐S, the ED Inventory‐2 and the Symptom Checklist‐Revised. Results showed that the internal structure of the one‐dimensional solution for the YFAS‐S was very good ( α  = 0.95). The YFAS‐S has a good discriminative capacity to differentiate between ED and controls (specificity = 97.6% and sensitivity (Se) = 72.8%; area under receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.90) and a good Se to screen for specific ED subtypes. YFAS‐S scores were associated with higher levels of negative affect and depression, higher general psychopathology, more severe eating pathology and greater body mass index. When comparing the prevalence of ‘FA’ between ED subtypes, the lowest prevalence of ‘FA’, measured with the YFAS‐S, was for the anorexia nervosa (AN) restrictive subtype with 50%, and the highest was for the AN binge–purging subtype (85.7%), followed by bulimia nervosa (81.5%) and binge eating disorder (76.9%). In conclusion, higher YFAS‐S scores are associated with bingeing ED‐subtype patients and with more eating severity and psychopathology. Although the ‘FA’ construct is able to differentiate between ED and HC, it needs to be further explored. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109343/1/erv2311.pd

Self-Disgust Is Associated With Loneliness, Mental Health Difficulties, and Eye-Gaze Avoidance in War Veterans With PTSD

In the present study, we examined, for the first time, the association between self-disgust, loneliness, and mental health difficulties in war veterans diagnosed with PTSD. For this purpose, we used a mixed methods design, incorporating surveys and a novel eye-tracking paradigm, and compared the findings from the PTSD veteran group (n = 19) to those from a general population group (n = 22). Our results showed that the PTSD veteran group reported almost three times higher scores in self-disgust, and significantly higher scores in loneliness and mental health difficulties (anxiety and depression), compared to the general population. Furthermore, self-disgust mediated the association between loneliness and anxiety symptoms in both groups. The results from the eye-tracking paradigm further showed that veterans with PTSD displayed a self-avoidance gaze pattern, by looking significantly more toward pictures of faces of unknown others and away from their own face—a pattern that was not replicated in the general population group. Higher self-disgust scores were significantly associated with longer total gaze to the pictures of others (vs. the self). Our findings have implications for the role of self-disgust in the mental health of war veterans

Feeling Bad and Looking Worse: Negative Affect Is Associated with Reduced Perceptions of Face-Healthiness

Some people perceive themselves to look more, or less attractive than they are in reality. We investigated the role of emotions in enhancement and derogation effects; specifically, whether the propensity to experience positive and negative emotions affects how healthy we perceive our own face to look and how we judge ourselves against others. A psychophysical method was used to measure healthiness of self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Participants who self-reported high positive (N = 20) or negative affectivity (N = 20) judged themselves against healthy (red-tinged) and unhealthy looking (green-tinged) versions of their own and stranger’s faces. An adaptive staircase procedure was used to measure perceptual thresholds. Participants high in positive affectivity were un-biased in their face health judgement. Participants high in negative affectivity on the other hand, judged themselves as equivalent to less healthy looking versions of their own face and a stranger’s face. Affective traits modulated self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Face health judgement was also related to physical symptom perception and self-esteem; high physical symptom reports were associated a less healthy self-image and high self-reported (but not implicit) self-esteem was associated with more favourable social comparisons of healthiness. Subject to further validation, our novel face health judgement task could have utility as a perceptual measure of well-being. We are currently investigating whether face health judgement is sensitive to laboratory manipulations of mood

A systematic review of the clinical utility of the concept of self‐disgust

This systematic literature review examined the clinical utility of the construct of self disgust in understanding mental distress. Specifically, the review assessed whether there is a shared conceptual definition of self-disgust, the face and construct validity of the quantitative assessment measures of self-disgust, and the predictive validity of self-disgust in formulating the development of a range of psychological difficulties. A systematic database search supplemented by manual searches of references and citations identified thirty-one relevant papers (27 quantitative, 3 qualitative, 1 mixed). Analysis of qualitative papers indicated a number of shared features in the definition of self-disgust, including a visceral sense of self elicited nausea accompanied by social withdrawal and attempts at cleansing or suppressing aspects of the self. Quantitative assessment measures appeared to capture these dimension and evidenced good psychometric properties, although some measures may have only partially captured the full self-disgust construct. Strong relationships were observed between self disgust and a range of mental health presentations, in particular depression, body-image difficulties, and trauma-related difficulties. However, these relationships are smaller when the effects of other negative self-referential emotions were controlled, and stronger conclusions about the predictive validity of self-disgust are limited by the cross-sectional nature of many of the studies

As light as your scent: effects of smell and sound on body image perception

How people mentally represent their body appearance (i.e., body image perception - BIP) does not always match their actual body. BIP distortions can lead to a detriment in physical and emotional health. Recent works in HCI have shown that technology can be used to change people’s BIP through visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and auditory stimulation. This paper investigates, for the first time, the effect of olfactory stimuli, by looking at a possible enhancement of a known auditory effect on BIP.We present two studies building on emerging knowledge in the field of crossmodal correspondences. First, we explored the correspondences between scents and body shapes. Then, we investigated the impact of combined scents and sounds on one’s own BIP. Our results show that scent stimuli can be used to make participants feel lighter or heavier (i.e., using lemon or vanilla) and to enhance the effect of sound on perceived body lightness. We discuss how these findings can inform future research and design directions to overcome body misperception and create novel augmented and embodied experiences

Først og fremst for å forstå det fullstendige nyheitsbildet : ein kritisk diskursanalyse av eigenreklame på TV2 og NRK

Denne oppgåva er ein kritisk diskursanalyse av fem eigenreklamar, promoar, tilknytt nyheitssendingar på TV2 og NRK. Gjennom analysen viser eg kva meiningspotensial og verknadspotensial desse tekstane har. Grunnhaldninga i dei to tv-kanalane viser seg i desse tekstane som svært ulik. Mens TV2 sin modellmottakar er ein god nordmann som betalar skatt av si lønn og elles ventar at staten skal ordne opp, er NRK sin modellmottakar ein ansvars- og sjølvmedviten person som likar å tru at NRK gir eit sant og fullstendig bilde av verda. Den underliggande forteljinga om livet som TV2-tekstane formidlar, går ut på at mottakaren ikkje har det gode liv, men ønskjer å få det. Staten utgjer den store hindringa for at dette skal skje ved ei håplaus forvalting av skattepengane. Heldigvis hjelper TV2 tv-sjåarane. Denne hjelpa går ut på å få tv-sjåarane til å forstå at dei ikkje har det gode liv. Dermed konserverer TV2-tekstane ei passiv haldning til livet og eit svært snevert bilde av verda. NRK-teksten er meir fokusert på avsendar enn på mottakar. Denne teksten ønskjer å skape og/eller stadfeste eit bilde av NRK som den seriøse nyheitsformidlaren. Teksten formidlar derfor saker, og logos og etos pregar argumentasjonen. Dette gjer at bildet av verkelegheita blir meir fullstendig enn til dømes den som kjem fram i TV2 sine tekstar. Likevel argumenterer eg for at verknadspotensialet til denne teksten ikkje er av fornyande art, fordi teksten er meir fokusert på avsendar sitt sjølvbilde enn på å engasjere mottakar

Butterfly colors and global change: anthropogenic influence on a sexually selected wing trait in the cabbage white butterfly

Habitat changes (e.g. deforestation, urbanization, etc.), the introduction of exotic species, human harvesting (e.g. fisheries), climate change, and pollution are creating novel environments at an unprecedented rate, affecting ecological and evolutionary processes in a countless number of ways. One massive shift that has occurred in the United States over the last few centuries has been land-use change primarily into agricultural and urban areas. These shifts in land types have affected the nitrogen cycle through fertilizer and atmospheric nitrogen deposition. There is evidence that these nutritional shifts are changing nitrogen availability which is having ecological effects as well as an evolutionary effect on animal communication. However, condition-dependent signals, or honest signals that relate information about mate quality, have been less studied in terms of responses to increased nitrogen pools. Using a combination of field-based observations and lab-based experiments, I have investigated how land use change is affecting the sexually selected phenotypic characteristics of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. We know this butterfly is nitrogen limited, and the white color of the cabbage white butterfly comes from nitrogen-rich pterin pigments. Coloration was quantified using reflectance measurements as a proxy for pigment concentration. Using these methods, I was able to perform the investigations described in this dissertation. First, I start by introducing land-type changes in the Anthropocene, honest signals, my focal species (the cabbage white butterfly), and brief methods used for wing coloration metrics. In chapter one I looked at color differences in male and female cabbage white butterflies across multiple land types across the United States. Chapter two investigated the effects of varying nitrogen availability (through manipulated artificial diets) on the sequestration and allocation of nitrogen to cabbage white head, thorax, abdomen, and wing tissue in addition to coloration. Finally, in chapter three, I looked at how four populations, with differing levels of surrounding agricultural land, varied in wing coloration, investment in reproductive tissue, and mating behavior. Taken together, these three chapters provide evidence that wing coloration is affected by land use and increased nitrogen availability that has a direct relationship with reproductive tissues, however not in the way that had been predicted at the start of my investigations. I conclude with a summary of my findings, the importance of research into anthropogenically induced effects on honest signals, and future directions

Paradigmatiske og narrative tilnærminger til mobbing

Flere tusen barn i den norske skolen opplever en utrygg skolehverdag preget av mobbing. Som lærer og spesialpedagog vil mobbeproblematikk derfor være en sentral del av arbeidet mitt. Men hvordan skal man egentlig forstå og arbeide med mobbing? Formålet med denne undersøkelsen er å utforske hvordan narrative tilnærminger kan berike paradigmatiske perspektiver på mobbing, og finne ut hva jeg som lærer og spesialpedagog kan lære fra dette i arbeidet med mobbeutsatte barn i skolen. I oppgavens første del søker jeg å forstå mobbing på et overordnet og systematisk vis gjennom paradigmatiske tilnærminger. Slike tilnærminger presenterer ofte generaliserende kunnskap gjennom et akademisk og til tider abstrakt språk. For å komme tettere inn på de mobbeutsattes tanker, følelser og erfaringer i form av deres eget hverdagsspråk har jeg i del to undersøkt hvordan fenomenet mobbing kan forstås gjennom et narrativt blikk. Gjennom et kvalitativt forskningsdesign har jeg utført en narrativ innholdsanalyse av tjueåtte mobbefortellinger skrevet av og om mennesker som har vært utsatt for mobbing. Mobbefortellingene har blitt kodet og sortert i kategorier hentet fra narrativ teori. Overordnede resultater i studien viser at narrative tilnærminger er svært verdifulle supplement til paradigmatisk forskning for å få et rikere og mer personlig innblikk i hvordan man kan arbeide med mobbeutsatte barn. Mobbefortellinger kan være verdifulle også i det direkte arbeidet i skolen. Videre tilsier funnene at viktige fokusområder i arbeidet med mobbeutsatte barn i skolen er elevenes subjektive følelser og opplevelser, relasjonsarbeid, skolens verdigrunnlag og spesialpedagogikkens visjon, sårbare elever, ansvarliggjøring av voksne som kompetente rollemodeller, måten man omtaler mennesker på og til slutt at en mobbesak ikke er slutt selv om mobbingen tilsynelatende har stoppet